Among such recent news highlights in the NHL such as ‘Zednik signs with KHL and somebody cares’ and ‘Brouce Boudreau looks like a penguin’, you may have noticed New York Rangers coach John Tortorella was suspended by the NHL for one game. While no longer on the TSN panel, Torts apparently still loves a good verbal confrontation. During Game 5 of the Rangers-Capitals series he got into a shouting match and then squirted water at a drunken, happy-that-the-Caps-were-winning fan, who then proceed to pour beer on what we can only assume was Tortorella’s lucky and favourite suit. This caused Torts to go a little spare, threatening to beat the fan with a stick through the glass (Aaron Voros’ stick, most notably). I guess he thought he was magical, but at least he knew a stick was a better weapon then whatever crap beer they were serving at the arena. This confrontation was followed by a huge black security guard attempting to try and block the fan from Tortorella’s view, but just resulted in making a funny situation even funnier. Those are the facts. Up until this point, we at the NHLEF thought it was downright impossible for a coach to get suspended, but now we know better. So, safe in our knowledge that coaches can and will get the boot, we felt it was necessary to post our picks for other coaches that should be suspended at least one game during the course of a season/playoff.
Mike Babcock, Detroit Red Wings – Everyone knows the Wings won the Cup last year, finished second in the west, have balanced scoring, tough defence and a goalie (he’s nothing special, but Osgood does fill the net quite nicely) blah, blah, blah. No one likes a repeat champion, least of all the NHL, who is on a huge parity kick. Basically it boils down to the fact that the Red Wings are just way too good, and, while suspending Datsyuk would help, to actually cripple Detroit’s ability to play hockey you would have to suspend Zetterberg, Hossa, Franzen, Lidstrom, Cleary and Holmstrom as well. So, we think giving Mike Babcock a seat in the press box for a game would be a great idea by the league in an attempt to insure parity. By no means a sure thing, but without Babcock, it is possible teams as pathetic as the Blue Jackets might stand a chance.
Alain Vigneault, Vancouver Canucks – Managed to surprise the league by rallying for 3rd in the Western Conference at the end of the season and then proceeded to wipe the arena floor with the hapless, young and decidedly-un-playoff calibre Blues. However, for all their late season success, there is only one reason – Roberto Luongo. Trust me – as someone who picked up both Jason LaBarbera and that other random dude the Canucks called up - in my Yahoo! Fantasy Pool, Luongo was pretty much the only guy keeping pucks out of the net. Not only that, but Vigneault has made Bobby Captain as well! If things keep going the way they are against the Hawks, ole Lu is going to have to join the top line and score goals with the Sedins as well. Basically what we’re getting at here is that Alain Vigneault needs to get suspended for relying on Roberto Luongo way too often/much/excessively ridiculous amount.
Claude Julien, Boston Bruins – The Bruins have been a premiere team all year, on the backs of such legitimate stars as Phil Kessel, Zdeno Chara and the incredibly quiet Marc Savard. While all these real-deal players are fine, what Claude Julien has done with Michael Ryder and Tim Thomas is inexcusable. At the end of last season, Mike Ryder was on the last legs of his NHL career, and rightly so. With the amount of time Ryder spent in the press box, he was better at serving drinks than potting goals. Enter Claude, who gave no-good, hustle-less, Alexei Kovalev-wannabe Michael Ryder another chance. With 27 goals and 26 assists for 53 points as well as an unreal +28 rating for the perennial defensively challenged Ryder, Julien turned not-worth-a-bag-of-pucks-Ryder into a semi-useful NHL player. And on top of that injustice, Ryder has turned in a team leading 5 goals and 9 points this post-season. Unfortunately for hockey fans, Ryder was not the only random success story to emerge under Julien. As has been mentioned in our comments, Tim Thomas failed to crack an NHL line-up until he was 31 years old. Brilliant Julien decided his unorthodox style (read: politically correct way of saying shit-ass-ugly, swine-flu infested, Dominic Hasek(and not the good Hasek)-like) was able to carry the Bruins hopes. No one hates a good comeback story more than the NHLEF, and two on one team, especially a team as despicable as the Bruins, is hard to accept. Ryder and Thomas sucked, and NHL fans accepted that fact. Claude Julien effed that up big time. So, while we’d like to suspend him indefinitely, or, to be more accurate, suspend him 6 feet underground in a wooden box, we’ll hope the league gives him one game.
Brent Sutter, New Jersey Devils – Ahhh, the New Jersey Devils. Despite having a 40-goal scorer in Zack Parise and probably the best goalie in the history of hockey in Brodeur, the Devils are known for one thing only. Being the most boring, trap-oriented team in the NHL. Honestly, sitting down to watch a Devils game is like watching porn without the sex. You’re pretty sure that at some point something exciting is supposed to happen, but you have to suffer through the entire thing only to discover no one ever takes their clothes off. The man who is responsible for all this suffering is none other than Brent Sutter, and therefore should be suspended a game for rendering the NHL un-visually stimulating. If I wanted to watch something boring, I’d go watch Antiques Roadshow.
Scott Gordon, New York Islanders – First of all, everyone who actually knew the Isles coach was Scott Gordon should stop reading, because you’re either way to nerdy for this blog, or you like the Islanders, both of which are unacceptable. For those of you still reading, you’re thinking ‘they just blasted Sutter, Julien and Babcock, 3 of the most successful NHL coaches this season. Now they’re going after this guy, who coaches the worst team in the league? How is that fair?’ Well, thanks for the inspired internal dialogue, but really, we’re doing Mr. Gordon a favour. It’s not his fault Charlie Wang bought the team. Or that Garth Snow is the GM, and has had about as much success drafting as Alexander Daigle had at playing hockey. Or that the Islanders have been losing $25 million dollars a year for the last 5 years. Nope, Mr. Gordon is not on the hook for any of those things. In fact, we think he should be commended for not resigning as head coach of the Islanders, because if the NHLEF was handed that many no-names on a roster, we would build a swimming pool in the arena and switch to water polo. Scott Gordon should be suspended because a man can only lose so much. He just needs a night off!
There you go, Mr. Bettman, no need to do any of your own research or leg work, just read our blog and pass some judgement. Trust us. Always sexy, but never in your face, the NHLEF is here for you. We aren't flashy, especially not in the get-arrested way, but we bring you the NHL news, one bit at a time. NHLEF OUT.
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I was not consulted about the Antiques Roadshow remark. One of the most entertaining shows of our generation. Where else can you see a 72 year woman be told that their table that they bought for $7000, based on the fact it was hand made by a famous blind man, is nothing more than a massly produced table that you can buy at Wal-Mart for $100. Hilarious.
ReplyDeleteHow many times did Patrick Roy let in two goals in the last 1.5 minutes of a game 7?
ReplyDeleteOh, that's right... that never, ever would have happened. Ever.
You make an interesting point, but I point you to the statistics. Brodeur has played 999 games, 557 wins, 101 shutouts in the reg season. 176 playoff games played, 98 wins and 23 shutouts. A quick look at Roy's statistics show less wins and less shutouts in more regular season games played. Also, he got booed out of Montreal for being a wuss.
ReplyDeleteThey changed the rules to add the shootout after Roy retired, which has artificially inflated the number of wins for goalies the last few seasons. Brodeur has beaten his previous career high for wins three times since the lockout. If Roy had played with shootouts, he'd be over 600 wins.
ReplyDeleteBrodeur also benefits from the trap like no other goalie has; he's an excellent goalie, certainly a hall of famer, but he's played his entire career in a rigid defensive system that managed to score a ton of goals on counterattacks.
More qualitatively, would you credit Brodeur directly with any of the Devils' Stanley Cups? I mean heck, they even gave the Conn Smythe to Giguere one year they won! Roy won the Conn Smythe three times, and pretty much won the cup single-handedly three times.
I will argue this point until the end of the universe.
i have to agree that roy is better. not only because i am a huge roy fan, but because its the facts. put brodeur in roys situation in 1986. guarenteed the canadiens don't win the cup. also, for example, this year, scott clemensen comes in and does just as good as brodeur to keep the devils at the top of the east. is this because clemensen is a good goalie? possibly, but not likely. its the devils style of play. when you face 20 shots a game, its not hard to have good stats.don't get me wrong here, he is a brilliant goalie, but he has never been in a pressure situation like roy has been numerous times. and another thing that makes roy better is he doesnt take shit. if avery would of done that to roy last year, he would of had his head pounded in about 2 seconds. broduer sat there like a little girl and cried to the ref. so in conclusion roy is better, and always will be.
ReplyDeleteburgess
Allright, so the win numbers ARE inflated for Brodeur, I will accept that point. And that the Devil's system of defence makes it easier for any ol' chump to put on a mask and some pads and stop a few pucks.
ReplyDeleteAs to Roy being the sole reason for his teams' success, let's go over his teammates while he won the cups:
1986- Guy Carbonneau, Bob Gainey, Mario Tremblay, Mats Naslund, Chris Nilan, Claude Lemieux (yeah i know, he sucks now, but back in the day..), Larry Robinson, Chris Chelios
1993- Carbonneau, Vincent Damphousse, Denis Savard, Kirk Muller, Mike Keane, John Leclair, Rob Ramage, Mathieu Schnieder
1996- Sakic, Forsberg, Ricci, Lemieux again, Keane again, Sylvain Lefebvre Sandis Ozolinsh, Adam Foote and the always-dangerous Uwe Krupp
2001- Rob Blake, Dan Hinote, Sakic, Forsberg, Hejduk, Drury, Ville Neimenin, Alex Tanguay, Martin Skoula, Nolan Pratt, Adam Foote, Ray Bourque
Those lists are like a who's who of hockey before you add Roy. The guy had an all-star team out in front of him every time he won the cup, whereas New Jersey is a wasteland for free-agent, big scoring forwards and offensive defensemen. At least Roy knew that even if he let a few by, chances were good that his team would bang in more at the other end.
Let me draw your attention to more exhaustively researched stats:
1986- the games that Roy won were scored as follows - 3-2, 5-3, 1-0, 4-3
Now, counting either a shutout or 1 goal as stealing the game, Roy has stole 25%
1993 - 3-2, 4-3, 3-2, 4-1, again, only 25%
1996 - 3-1, 8-1, 3-2, 1-0, against the Florida Panthers, so none of these statistics are valid. Argue all you want, but a team that gets blown out 8-1 in the Stanley Cup final is not worthy of being included. They also lost in 4.
So, in conclusion, after much evidence is left out, and Brodeur's numbers are un-compared, Roy clearly saved only 2 of 8 games, or a miserly 25%. But now you're saying '25%! Thats a huge number for one guy!' True, except that your goalie plays 60 minutes every night. Except that your goalie ALWAYS has to be your best player. Except that one of the major arguments for Roy was the fact that he carried his team.
Unfortunately, in depth analysis of the stats proves that to be false. The numbers don't lie gentlemen: Patrick Roy should be in prison, not the Hall of Fame. Don't retire his jersey Montreal, burn it.
Your incessant hatred of Montreal amuses me. You know that Brodeur was a stick-boy for the Canadiens - his Dad was the team photographer - growing up and Roy was his idol, right?
ReplyDeleteThe litany of names you prattled off is deceiving for a couple reasons. When Roy won the first two cups, there were 21 teams and Montreal still had a huge supply of aging stars from the days of 16. By Brodeur's second season there were already 26 teams; major talent pool dilution and lots of shitty expansion teams to beat up on and pad the stats. The big shots you named also had a tendency to be either old or young (except Sakic/Forsberg/Foote) when Roy was in town.
Granted, we're talking playoffs here, so here's another argument: in sports, the stage matters. Beating Gretzky and the Kings at the Forum in Montreal, the beating heart of obsessive compulsive hockey fandom, with the entire continent (arguably the world since the USSR had just fallen and the league was newly flooded with Russians) watching like never before trumps taking down the Mighty Ducks in a swamp by the Jersey airport. The Devils also beat the Stars and the Wings. Roy beat Calgary, the Panthers (obviously lame except for Bure, my all-time favourite non-Canadien) and the Devils in 7.
Doesn't that settle it right there? We had a seven game Stanley Cup Finals between the two of them with Brodeur at his absolute zenith and Roy already on the downslope physically, and Roy won it.
Hate your way out of this one, Kieran.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/michael_farber/05/04/playoff.notes/index.html
ReplyDeleteCheck out #2! Pierre McGuire in Minnesota! I see a night of hard drinking coming on for Mr. Jones.
My god, this is getting intense. Seeing as how I am the co-author to this blog, I feel I should chime in here, but not to the extent you three have, those are novels. One argument:
ReplyDelete1998 Nagano Olympics, Roy was in goal, when Canada lost to the Czechs in the Semis. Roy and company totally blew it and embarrassed Canada. Then Roy goes in the bronze medal game and chokes again to the Fins. Inexcusable.
2002: Salt Lake City Olympics, Roy was a wussy and decided not play for Canada after his embarrassing first attempt. Which lead to Brouder bailing out Cujo and Pat Quinn early in the tourney and helped win Canada's first Olympic Gold medal in 50 years. Heroism.
Case closed.
However, I do agree that Mr. Jones will be drinking heavily when Mr. McGuire becomes the GM in Minny and resigns Gaborik. Hey, at least we won't need to hear or see him nearly as often as we do now.
2001 was the only real battle between the two, head to head. it was close but i believe the avs won that series in 7 and the stanley cup, so roy outplayed him.
ReplyDeleteas for the olympics argument, it is irrelavent. roy had possibly the worst coaching for such a good team, (ray borque in the shoot out is evidence enough), and canada also ran into dominic hasek that year, who was unreal.i would feel confident saying if brodeur had of been in nets, it wouldnt of mattered, and if roy had of played in 2002, the still would of won gold. in conclusion, it was the team in front of the goaltender in these olympic years that chocked/ won gold.
roy is still the best no matter what argument you can come up with
burgess
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteLet's look at the 2001 playoffs. I think you can argue that Brodeur was actually a hindrance to the Devils and it was their system that carried them that year:
ReplyDeleteBrodeur Roy
Shots = 507 Shots = 622
Save % = 0.897 Save % = 0.934
Brodeur faced 115 fewer shots than Roy during the playoffs despite the fact that the Devils played two more games! And that save percentage is simply mediocre, there's no two ways about it.
This just further reinforces what I've always thought about Brodeur: he's an excellent goalie, but you never feel like the Devils would be screwed without him. One thing I will grant him is that his puck-handling abilities were solely responsible for the creation of the weird trapezoid thing after the lockout. As far as I know, the only rules that have been created because of Roy are restraining orders.
On top of the game 7 in 2001 - a decisive head-to-head victory for Roy - let's keep in mind that Brodeur just allowed two goals in the last 1:20 of a game 7 at home. As I said at the top, that never, ever happens if Roy is in the net.
The only conclusion that I have come to with all of this insane debating is that it is clear that Hasek is better than both Roy and Broduer.
ReplyDeleteAlso Broduers best years are behind him, just as Roys near the end of his career, who in fact, in his final year, lost to the lonely Minnesota Wild in the first round, when he and the Avs had a 3-1 series lead! And Mister "Clutch" cost the final 2 Wild win in OT!
That is all.
But in 2001 they were both at their peaks - if anything, Roy on the downside.
ReplyDeleteHasek is a whole different story; completely dominant, and can never be replicated. He's easily the most unique player ever, I would say. He played so crazily that it's hard to even compare him to anyone, but you can't really argue with six consecutive Vezinas. Those teams in Buffalo wouldn't even have made the playoffs without him, whereas the Devils and Habs/Avalance would have.
Roy completely changed the way the position is played with the butterfly though, so I bet his is the name that lives on in thirty more years.
And he was definitely better than Brodeur.